Damian Walshe-Howling
Damian Walshe-Howling will forever be remembered for his role of Adam Cooper, the corrupt cop who walked out of Mt Thomas in disgrace. He was always the inexperienced one. The one who was yelled at, who bent the rules, who kicked down doors and who always seemed to make the wrong decisions. Damian Walshe-Howling was born on January 22, 1971 and secured his role on Blue Heelers in 1994. Here he played Constable Adam Cooper, who essentially took the role Roz Patterson left behind, because writers thought more could be done with a police related character rather than the civilian character that Roz was. Damian first appeared on Heelers in the episode Labour of Love, which aired on September 6th, 1994. Adam Cooper was the fit copper with the world at his feet, an earring in his ear and was everything Wayne Patterson didn’t like. The rest of the crew weren’t too excited either. But they lived with it. Upon Wayne’s death it was Adam who admitted it was Wayne he always wanted beside him in a tough situation. Storylines with Adam revolved heavily around his romance with Stacey Norse, played with excellence by a young Kate Atkinson. Their relationship was doomed from the start, but Adam was blind to it, no matter how much his colleagues tried to talk him around. By the time he had married Stacey, had a fling with Dash and bought a car that had been stolen and rebirthed, he had used up his last chance in Mt Thomas. In the 1998 season finale, Rotten Apple, which aired as a double episode on November 18 and 25, Adam was booted out of the force, labeled by all as bent. He wasn’t seen again until the very last episode of Blue Heelers ever, where he reappeared in a new profession, but still full of trouble for Tom Croydon and his team. Away from Blue Heelers, Damian has enjoyed success in other productions, appearing in Stingers, Marshall Law, Love is a Four Letter Word, Halifax and The Secret Life of Us and a 1985 appearance in Neighbours, as well as an array of one off tv pursuits. Of all the Heelers cast, Damian has probably done the most film work with roles in 2003’s Ned Kelly, He Died with a Falafel in his Hand and Kenny to his credit. He also appeared alongside Vince Colosimo, Jane Hall and Nicolas Bell in Life – a made for tv movie written by Roger Simpson of Halifax fame. In 2006 Damian starred alongside a wealth of Australian talent including Sam Worthington, comedian Mick Molloy, Gary Sweet, Steve Bastoni and Bob Franklin, in ‘a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" set in the ganglands of Melbourne’. 2006 was also a year in which Damian extended his hand to help those less fortunate when he offered his support to Beyond Blue, a charity that aims to help people with mental illness. Damian’s fellow actor Garry McDonald, is the media spokesman for this charity.